Modeling and Analysis of Multi-Channel Gigabit Class CWDM-VLC System

Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is one possible solution to increase the data rate for Visible Light Communication (VLC). Coarse WDM (CWDM) was used to increase data rate in traditional optical fiber systems. In this work, we propose CWDM for a VLC system using multiple LEDs with different monochromatic colors in the full visible spectrum. Besides, optical filters are used to separate different wavelengths from received signals and to maximize their performance, while minimizing crosstalk. Spacing between the channels is 20 nm, and the combination of channels produce white light for indoor illumination. The simulation results show very good performance in terms of bit error rate (BER) and improve data rate for an indoor VLC link. This VLC-CWDM system can achieve a data rate of 3.2 Gb/s and 7.2 Gb/s for 10 and 20 channels, respectively. Comparatively, the current WDM-VLC system can achieve 1.97 Gb/s data rate with the same simulation parameters.